Saturday

Aug 31, 2019 at 8:00 AM

The continuation of a yearlong series

It was a time when the uptown section of Gardner was the focal point of the community. The Syndicate Block featured many stores and places of business, the Windsor House was Gardner’s finest hotel, and the post office and Levi Heywood Memorial Library were both only a short distance away.

However, the centerpiece of it all was the majestic Town Hall that became the civic and social nucleus of Gardner.

So when that building was destroyed by a spectacular fire, during the wee hours of the morning on Aug. 28, 1944, a major piece of the city’s history went up in flames with it.

Worcester Telegram reporter Toivo “Tod” Virta was walking home to his residence on Westford Street, after putting his section of the paper to bed for the evening, when he noticed the flames coming out of the building. In a short amount of time, the 84-year-old building was almost a total loss.

And with the fire went numerous memories from a venerable building that witnessed more than its share of history.

From Gardner High graduations and basketball games, to community dances, entertainment ranging from the vaudeville and big-time stars of yesteryear to local minstrel shows, town and city government meetings, fraternal events, church suppers and Chamber of Commerce banquets, the Gardner Town Hall had seen it all.

The old town offices were grouped at one point on the first floor of the building. The Selective Service was housed there dating back to World War I, and many Gardner men went forth to war from its doors.

Many longtime residents likely have fond memories of the old hall’s expansive dance floor, which hosted more than its share of Finn Hops and formal cotillions but would not allow the scandalous Tango dances, which were banned in the town by Police Chief Thomas F. Shay in 1916.

Baseball Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie once took part in an exhibition boxing match against a boxer from Manchester in 1920, while P.T. Barnum frequently appeared in the 1800s with his circus sensation Tom Thumb.

In addition, John Phillip Sousa’s band played there in 1899. Even former President William Howard Taft spoke there in 1916, three years after he left office, as a guest of the Greater Gardner Businessmen’s Association.

Between 1850 and 1860, Gardner’s population rose from 1,533 to 2,640, an increase of more than 72 percent. It was soon evident that a building was needed to support all of the municipal activity within the town.

On July 21, 1859, land at the corner of Central and Elm streets was bought from Benjamin Heywood to build the Town Hall. A stone slab at that spot on Central Street today marks the home of Heywood’s ancestor Seth Heywood, who was among the men who helped collect the necessary signatures for Gardner to first incorporate as a town.

When the Town Hall first opened in 1860, the ground floor was inhabited by the First National and Gardner Savings banks, while another section housed the district court. On the Elm Street side was Cady’s Toy and Notion Store run by Edwin H. Cady, father of Gardner’s famed illustrator Harrison Cady. In addition, there was Gray’s jewelry store, a drug store operated by Dr. James Emerson, and the Stratton Brothers clothing store.

The second floor was the grand hall, which had a seating capacity of some 900 citizens. By 1883, the balcony was added with a seating capacity of 376. That same year, an addition was built at the rear of the building for more town offices on the lower level, which allowed a larger stage capacity of the hall. At that time, the hall was piped for gas lighting and a new stage was built and fitted for scenery, dressing rooms and lavatories.

At one time the basement was occupied as police headquarters, complete with cell rooms, while the third floor housed one of the first meeting halls of the Hope Lodge A.F. and A.M.

Perhaps the first movement of Gardner’s trek from its town hall locale to its present epicenter of West Gardner came at a Town Meeting in 1902. It was at that gathering where a motion was made to move the Police Department from Town Hall to a West Gardner location.

While the motion failed, it was later voted in. With the increase in businesses cropping up in West Gardner, the exodus was soon underway from the old center of town.

By 1920, as Gardner was edging closer to becoming a city, the citizens voted $300,000 for a new Town Hall and another $44,000 to clear land on Pleasant Street and erect the new structure that would become the present day City Hall.

By that time, Town Hall was showing its age. A roof support snapped in 1921, forcing all of the municipal offices out of the hall until repairs could be made.

Eventually, West Gardner soon became home to police headquarters, the impressive Colonial Hotel, the Post Office Building and finally City Hall, which opened in January of 1940 when all city government offices were transferred to the new building.

Once City Hall opened, the old Town Hall became the State Armory, which served as the headquarters for the 1st Company, the 1st Battalion, the 29th Infantry and the 3rd Battalion. With the U.S. involvement in World War II less than two years away, the headquarters was always buzzing with activity.

However, the large frame and brick structure fell victim to one of the city’s most spectacular blazes 75 years ago this week.

Take a drive by the small triangular-shaped parking lot to the left-hand side of the Syndicate Building. It’s hard to imagine on that small lot of land once stood Gardner’s most vital and impressive structure.

Next week: President Theodore Roosevelt speaks at Union Station (September 1902).

Comments and suggestions can be sent to Mike Richard at mikerichard0725@gmail.com or in writing to Mike Richard, 92 Boardley Road, Sandwich, MA 02563.

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